1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a method of changing the ring back tone replacing sound of a called party to the sound source of another supplementary service of a calling party using a dual tone multi-frequency shortcut key during the placing of a call, a method of changing the ring back tone replacing sound or service sound source (title song) of the calling party to the sound source of the supplementary service of the called party, a method of pushing the service sound source of the calling party as the service sound source of the called party in real time during the placing of a call, and apparatuses for performing the methods.
2. Description of Related Technology
Generally, a ring back tone refers to a signal tone sent from a switching center to a calling terminal subscriber to inform the calling terminal subscriber that a calling signal is transmitting to a called terminal subscriber in a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or a mobile communication network. Recently, various ring back tone replacement services for replacing typical ring back tones represented by a conventional simple signal tone have been developed and used. For example, services, such as 2Ring, COLORing or FeelRing (the name of services provided in Korea) that allow a user to select a ring back tone replacing sound for replacing a ring back tone equally provided depending on the recommendations of the International Telecommunication Union-Telecommunication (ITU-T), have been tremendously popularized. Such a ring back tone replacement service is described in detail below.
First, if a calling terminal subscribes to a ring back tone replacement service and requests a call connection to a called terminal managed by a called party's Mobile Switching Center (MSC), a calling party's MSC requests call termination location information (location request) from a Home Location Register (HLR). The HLR requests routing information (routing request) from the called party's MSC in response to the request for the call termination location information, received from the calling party's MSC. The called party's MSC transmits routing information (Temporary Local Directory Number: TLDN) to the HLR in response to the routing information request signal received from the HLR. Thereafter, the HLR transmits call termination location information to the calling party's MSC using the received routing information.
The calling party's MSC requests an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) User part (ISUP) call connection from the called party's MSC on the basis of the routing information. The called party's MSC reads ring back tone replacement service setting information, previously stored in a storage device, in response to the ISUP call connection request signal transmitted from the calling party's MSC. Thereafter, in the case where a user corresponding to the called terminal has subscribed to the ring back tone replacement service, the called party's MSC transmits the ISUP call connection request signal to a sound source control device, which is an Intelligent Peripheral (IP), through the use of the previously stored routing information of the sound source control device. At this time, the ISUP call connection request signal includes a called terminal identifier and calling terminal identifier. As a result of the above procedure, channels are established between the calling party's MSC, the called party's MSC and a sound source providing device.
The sound source providing device requests a sound source code from a sound source proving control server, which is a Service Control Point (SCP), on the basis of the called terminal identifier and calling terminal identifier. After the sound source providing control server searches for a sound source code, stored in connection with the called terminal identifier or the calling terminal identifier, in response to the sound source code request signal, and transmits the searched sound source code to the sound source providing device. Thereafter, the sound source providing device transmits a ring back tone replacing sound corresponding to the sound source code, received from the sound source providing control server, to the calling terminal through the established channel. When recognizing that the called terminal answers during the transmission of the ring back tone replacing sound to the calling terminal, the called party's MSC requests the sound source providing device to release the ISUP call. After receiving the ISUP call release request signal from the called party's MSC, the sound source providing device releases a channel established with the calling terminal. Thereafter, the called terminal performs normal communication using a channel established with the calling terminal.
As described above, a conventional ring back tone replacement service allows a called terminal subscriber to let a calling terminal subscriber listen to a ring back tone replacing sound that is selected by the called terminal subscriber and replaces a typical uniform ring back tone, through the use of the ring back tone replacement service. The reason that such a ring back tone replacement service commercially achieves success would be the fact that the service satisfies the desires of modern people for expressing their individualities to some degree.
However, in a conventional ring back tone replacement service, sound sources can be changed only when a user subscribes to a communication service provider having a corresponding sound source. In this way, various current supplementary services, such as a ring back tone replacement service, a background music service, a ringer service, a Karaoke service, a music mail service and a Music-On-Demand (MOD)/Video-On-Demand (VOD) service, are limited in that a user can use the services only when he or she has subscribed to a communication service provider having corresponding sound sources. Further, there is an inconvenience in that, in order to change the sound sources of conventional supplementary services, a user should access the home page, wireless Internet or Automatic Response System (ARS) of a communication service provider providing supplementary services, and enter the phone number of a called party.
Further, a conventional method of changing the sound sources of supplementary services is problematic in that, even when, for example, a calling party listens to the ring back tone replacing sound of a called party and is impressed thereby, the calling party cannot immediately set the sound source of his or her supplementary service, such as a ring back tone replacement service, to the sound source of the ring back tone replacing sound of the called party. Moreover, the conventional sound source change method for supplementary services is disadvantageous in that, since a supplementary service subscriber cannot change the sound sources of corresponding supplementary services in real time, the subscriber may forget that he or she will change a sound source later or forget the phone number of a called party, so that there may occur the case where he or she cannot change the sound sources of supplementary services.
Further, communication services providing various pieces of information to mobile information terminals, such as the mobile phones of subscribers, through various channels have recently increased with the development of electrical, electronic and communication fields. Under such environments, communication service providers provide supplementary services, such as a ring back tone replacement service, a background music service, a ringer service, a Karaoke service, a music mail service and a VOD/MOD service, to subscribers to comply with the demands of the subscribers desiring to use communication services more interestedly and individually. Recently, these supplementary services have been spotlighted by subscribers.
For example, a subscriber can wait for the establishment of a channel without tediousness while listening to an individual ring back tone replacing sound set by a calling party or called party, instead of a simple ring back tone, during the placing of a call. Further, the subscriber may freely register the popular songs of singers, popular sound effects and mentions, classical music, his or her own sound effects, etc., and use them as his or her ringers. Further, the subscriber may select a desired song or music as a background sound, and then talks to an opposite party while listening to the background sound during telephone conversation. In this way, conventional supplementary services allow the subscriber to more individually and interestedly use various communication services using the sound sources of the supplementary services selected by the subscriber.
However, in the conventional supplementary services, sound sources can be changed only when a user subscribes to a communication service provider having a corresponding sound source. That is, various current supplementary services, such as a ring back tone replacement service, a background music service, a ringer service, a Karaoke service, a music mail service and a Music-On-Demand (MOD)/Video-On-Demand (VOD) service, are limited in that a user can use the services only when he or she has subscribed to a communication service provider having corresponding sound sources. Further, there is an inconvenience in that, in order to change the sound sources of conventional supplementary services, a user should access the home page, wireless Internet or Automatic Response System (ARS) of a communication service provider providing supplementary services, and enter the phone number of a called party.
Further, a conventional method of changing the sound sources of supplementary services is problematic in that, even when, for example, a calling party listens to the ring back tone replacing sound of a called party and is impressed thereby, the calling party cannot immediately set the sound source of his or her supplementary service, such as a ring back tone replacement service, to the sound source of the ring back tone replacing sound of the called party. Moreover, the conventional sound source change method for supplementary services is disadvantageous in that, since a supplementary service subscriber cannot change the sound sources of corresponding supplementary services in real time, the subscriber may forget that he or she will change a sound source later or forget the phone number of a called party, so that the subscriber cannot easily change the sound sources of supplementary services at a desired time. Moreover, the conventional supplementary services are disadvantageous in that a calling party cannot immediately push his or her service sound source as the service sound source of a called party in real time while the calling party listens to the ring back tone replacing sound of the called party.